Thoughts on farming in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia and beyond

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Hutterite Farms

I was in
Alberta for a sheep meeting a while back, and since we made a family
visit/road trip out of it, it seemed a good time and place to look
around for Border Collies. One of the ads we called said he had just
the dog for me, so out we went.

The farm was a
huge grain and livestock operation on 6,000 acres, with several barns
and buildings, and what looked like an apartment complex. There was
no farm sign, no clear indication that this was anything but a big
ubiquitous Alberta farm. The fellow with the dogs answered our
questions, and then seemed quite pleased to grant our request for a
short tour. We all went across the road to the main farm complex,
and immediately it became apparent that this was a Hutterite farm.
All the men were dressed in black, even the boys. No women were in
sight. The children quickly swarmed around our vehicle, as curious
about us as we were about them.

Since it was
winter, the tour started with their main workplace – the shop.
They first showed us their woodworking shop. Then they showed us
their pride and joy - a high tech computerized metal fabricating shop
to make customized attachments for Bobcats. Many Hutterite colonies
have diversified into manufacturing, some have developed value-added
farm products, like pancake mixes or wool comforters. The needs to
keep men working year round and contributing to the colony as they
have adapted farming technologies that reduce labour requirements,
and the need for capital to expand their operations, are the drivers
behind the diversification into manufacturing.

After the tour
of the workshops, we got into a big farm truck to go feed the cattle.
The cattle were sleek and healthy, and were fed a chopped mix of
grain and forage. We noticed the absence of a radio in the truck.
The influences of the outside world are minimized here, yet they
still are on the fore front of any technologies that could enhance
their farm.

The colony also
had a large layer operation. We entered the layer barn at the egg
handling area. The eggs came in by conveyer belts, automatically
picking up the eggs as they were laid and delivering them to be
graded, sorted, washed, packed then put into a cooler. The packing
area was tiled from floor to ceiling and very clean. We weren’t
allowed into the layer barn, but could see inside where the chickens
were. The colony also had pigs and meat chickens, and produced all
of their own grain, hay and straw. They also had a large garden to
produce vegetables for the colony.

After I got
home I researched Hutterites on the internet, and was particularly
impressed by a Flickr site called the “Shutterite”, a young
Hutterite’s photos of his colony and their work. Not long after I
was looking at the photos, the site became closed to visitors or shut
down, and I wondered what happened to the brilliant photographer.
Then I opened my Western Producer last week and there were the
unmistakable images of Kelly Hofer, laid out in full colour splendour
in the center of the widely read farm paper. The article about him
mentioned that although his photos have shown his colony in a good
light, the religious leaders are not comfortable with the attention
this has brought Kelly. Individualism is not encouraged in a
Hutterite colony, where everyone works for the good of the group. I
was further pleased to see one of Kelly Hofer’s photos on the
front page of the National Post only a week after the Western
Producer feature. The photo was of a Hutterite girl in traditional
dress, sitting in the rim of an enormous tractor tire out in a big
farm field. The article that went with it was about Kelly and his
life as a Hutterite photographer, and the struggle the Hutterites
face balancing adoption of modern technology and adherence to
traditional communal values. The article went on to say that Kelly
had decided to leave the colony, a personal decision to pursue his
gift.

Whatever people
may say about the Hutterite culture, they are among the most
successful, productive, innovative farmers in Canada and the US.
Hutterites came to North America in the 1800's, encouraged by the
promise of religious freedom and the opportunity to grow their
pacifist communities. They have somehow managed to blend their
old-style communal traditions and strong work ethic with state of the
art farm technology, easily adopting cooperative agricultural
management and economies of scale to achieve a level of success
non-Hutterites sometimes resent. Their colonies are self-contained,
with their own schools, churches, abattoirs and all the services a
small community would need. They have a communal structure where all
assets are shared, none are individually owned, and their traditions
are deeply ingrained and rigid.

Since 1949 when
the first colony came to Saskatchewan, they expanded their land
holdings to over 2% of all agricultural land in that province, over
half a million acres, by 1993. In 2009, Hutterites owned over 40% of
all hogs in Manitoba, and over a third of all hogs in Alberta, even
though they represented less than 10% of the operations. In South
Dakota, Hutterites raise 50-60% of the hogs, in Montana, 90%.
Colonies in Montana also produce 98% of the eggs using
state-of-the-art equipment. In BC, colonies are in the Peace River
area, many raising sheep, cattle and grain.